FAQ’s

• Establishing your worm farm
• Feeding your worms
• Garden
• How to deal with leeches and other critters in your garden
• Information about worm Shipping
• Troubleshooting
• Worm castings and liquids
• Worm farm management and maintenance
• Worm farms and methods

Feeding your worms

How much can worms eat?

The generic answer is that worms can eat up to half their body weight daily and double their population every few months. However, this depends on two things: The type of food they are eating and how often they are being fed.

You will learn how much they can eat as you become familiar with your farm. Checking on your worms every couple of days when starting is the fastest way to learn what your worms do and don’t like. It will take several weeks for your worms to establish themselves in their new environment and process waste to their full potential. It is always a great sign when you see a bunch of worms balling up or congregating around the food source.

How much should I feed my worms?

When starting out a worm farm, about 250 grams or two handfuls of chopped food scraps every couple of days is recommended. To keep the farm well balanced, it is a good habit to sprinkle a small amount of compost, soil, or straw after each deposit. As your worm population grows, the amount of food you can feed also increases. A tier tray worm farm working at full capacity has the potential to process 2-3 kilograms of food waste every week.

How can I help the worms eat more?

You can help the worms to eat more by chopping the food scraps into smaller pieces and spreading them evenly over the surface instead of dumping scraps in a large heap. A worm blanket is also helpful as it creates a darker environment to encourage the worms to come to the surface and feed. Giving the worms more area to feed in is another great way to process more waste; you can do this by adding a second feeding tray or having additional worm farms. You could also use an inground worm farm to supplement your primary worm farm or try up-sizing to a DIY bathtub worm farm.

What kinds of foods do worms feed on?

Worms feed on the bacteria and fungi that cover food waste and other organic matter to break it down. The decomposition process occurs at different rates depending on the material.

• Fruit and vegetable scraps work well; ideally cut them up small, so they break down faster.
• Cereals, grains, and carbohydrates work well, either cooked or uncooked.
• Manures and compost are good, too. Organic materials such as cow and horse manure and compost already contain large amounts of organisms, so the worms can process more faster. However, be careful not to feed your worms manure from animals that have received deworming treatment in the two weeks before manure collection.

What foods don’t worms like?

There are some types of foods that worms don’t enjoy as much and can take much longer to break down, becoming problematic in your worm farm. They can become smelly and could encourage unwanted visitors such as blow-flies or vermin and put the farm out of balance. These include:

• Onion: Very small amounts of onion are OK, but too much can turn a worm farm acidic and unbalanced.
• Citrus: Takes a long while to break down, and worms find it difficult to process.
• Dairy: It is possible to feed a worm farm a small amount of dairy, however, it works best diluted with water; eg yoghurt diluted with water and poured over worm material. This helps disperse the high protein and fat evenly so the worms can eat it before it has a chance to go off.
• Meat: It is possible to process a very small amount of meat in a worm farm, however it does take time to break down and you would need to bury it deep under the soil in the trays to discourage blowfly larvae.

If your farm does turn ‘sour’ remove all food and mix up the remaining material in the tray with your gloved hands. It can also be helpful to apply a sprinkle of lime or worm farm conditioner. Recommence feeding with more suitable materials.

Can I feed my worms meat?

A farm with a healthy population of worms can process small amounts of meat.  The best way to feed meat to your worms is to chop it up small and bury it deep in the material. However, there is the risk of fly larvae (maggots) and unwanted pests being attracted to the farm, so for this reason feeding meat scraps is not recommended.

What happens if I overfeed my worms?

It is very easy to overfeed your worms, especially when establishing a new farm. It is easy to underestimate how long it takes 1,000 worms to increase in number so that the farm can consistently process a significant volume of kitchen scraps. The excess food can turn sour before the worms get the chance to eat it, which throws out the balance inside the farm. If this occurs, remove all food scraps and mix your feeding tray (top tray) with your hands or small fork, until the material is completely aerated. (You may want to wear gloves.) Add some ripped cardboard and a small amount of food scraps, cut small, pour on 1 litre of water and leave for a few days before checking to see that the worms are gathered around the food source. Continue feeding small amounts of food waste as determined by their needs.

How do I manage the lime and pH levels?

Feeding food scraps to the worms can cause the pH to lower. This can be managed by adding carbon from leaves and mulch or by adding a sprinkle of lime or conditioner when feeding your worms to keep it in a healthy balance.

How to deal with leeches and other critters in your worm farm.

It is not unusual to witness other critters in your worm farm every so often; for example, little brown or white mites, beetles, or ants. You need not concern yourself with these. Leeches can also sometimes appear and are best picked out and relocated. There are little white worms (enclyadhaties) that can be a common occurrence in a worm farm and are sometimes confused with tiny baby worms. They are known as pot worms and won’t cause any harm and will help process food waste. Excessive amounts of these critters can indicate conditions are not at their optimum and may be too wet or too dry. A sprinkle of lime may be required to balance the pH levels. Remove all food and mix the material with your gloved hands before applying.

What are Fruit flies and vinegar flies?

Fruit or vinegar flies can be found hovering above food scraps in your worm farm. These small flies can be annoying but shouldn’t cause any problems. It can be hard to avoid them. Covering the food material with a layer of straw and feeding underneath this layer, and using a worm mat or blanket will help minimise the number of flies.

Shipping information

Why is there a shipping cut-off?

To ensure that your worms are packed fresh and arrive happy and healthy, we only express post orders out on Mondays. This means orders received anytime after 7 am on a Monday will NOT be shipped until the following Monday.  This eliminates the risk of the package sitting at the Post Office over the weekend without the appropriate care.

What if I missed the shipping cut-off?

If you require an urgent supply of worms, please contact Wormbiz, and, depending on weather constraints and your shipping location, we may be able to supply what you need.

worms@wormbiz.com.au

My worms have arrived dead!  What now?

Oh no! The worms haven’t survived their journey! WormBiz apologises for your disappointing discovery. Even though we have a very high success rate and do everything we can to prepare the worms for transit, unfortunately, due to the nature of our product, this can be a possibility. Please contact Wormbiz within 24 hours of delivery to discuss replacement options.

worms@wormbiz.com.au

Shipping information.

Unfortunately, we can NOT offer live worm products to Western Australia, Northern Territory or Tasmania.  Due to complications with quarantine, heat stress, and long distances, we are regretful to turn your sale away.  Please search locally for a supplier. We hope the information provided by our website is helpful to your worm farming success.

Worm castings and liquids

How long will it be until I can use the liquids?

It is best to wait several weeks before using the liquid from your worm farm on your plants.  The worms must turn the bedding material into castings before the liquid is full of beneficial bacteria.  If you collect the liquid too early, it could contain leachates from the uneaten food.  Once you see a good layer of worm castings it is time to use the liquids on your plants.

What are worm castings?

The short answer is ‘worm poo’.  The long answer is, worm castings are organic compounds that pass through the worm’s biological digestive system that result in thick black soil which is home to many thousands of species of beneficial microbes that make nutrients available for plants. Plants react well to worm castings because of the symbiotic relationships between fungi, algae, and bacteria.

What is worm mucus and enzymes – or worm slime?

Worm castings can also be soil that has been excavated and passed through the worm’s body, resulting in little soil-like balls that are bound together with enzymes from the mucus that is created from the worm.

Worms excrete mucus full of enzymes that help break down organic material.  We know that worms are a powerhouse of bacteria, leaving what comes out on the other end full of beneficial microbes.  Worms are also covered in a sticky slime which helps protect the worm from their sometimes harsh environment and also helps them breathe through their moist skin.  Worms could use this slime as a catalyst to help the bacteria start breaking down the food (much like human saliva), or perhaps this is the first point of contact for the bacteria covering the worm’s skin.  It helps them exchange and communicate with other worms and be extremely receptive to influences in their environment.

Are there pathogens in worm castings?

Worms eat pathogens and pure worm castings should be free of pathogens.  This is not to say that worm castings cannot be contaminated with uneaten food or liquids containing pathogens.  It is best to assume that there is a chance that they could contain pathogens and avoid using worm castings directly on edible plants that are not washed previous to eating.  Apply to the soil surface in solid or liquid form.

It is best to dilute worm castings or liquids 10-1 with castings/worm wee- water.

How do I use worm castings?

You can use worm castings to make a potting mix. Apply castings directly to the soil surface around the base of potted plants or in the garden. Place some worm castings in the hole before planting seedlings or other plants direct in the garden.  The castings can also be turned into a liquid and applied to the soil surrounding your plants using a watering can. Is best to dilute worm castings or liquids 10-1 with castings/worm wee- water.

Worm farms and methods

Which is the best worm farm?

There is no such thing as the best farm. All worm farms work in a similar manner. You put food in, the worms eat the food, and worm castings are produced. The most common system used is a‘tiered’ or ‘tray’ system. These systems allow worms to move through the trays making it easier to manage.

Another type of worm farm is called the continuous flow through system. Without the stacking trays, what goes in the top eventually comes out the bottom. A common design element is the tapered shape of the farm, pushing the worms to the top as the lower levels compact and harden allowing for easy cast harvesting.

What is the difference between tiered/tray system and a continuous flow through system?

Tiered tray systems work in a stacking manner, where one tray is placed on top of the other so the worms can move through the farm.  Put simply, you could liken the bottom tray to a bedroom where the worms rest (no food in the bedrooms). The second tray might be considered the living room, and the top tray the dining room. This allows the worms to always find a nice cool spot.

The continuous flow through system – you put worm food in the top and worm castings come out the bottom. Sometimes it can be difficult to harvest the cast from the bottom because the worm castings have become quite compacted. In some flow through systems (particularly the large commercial systems), a wire or knife is dragged along the bottom cutting the cast to fall through to the bottom.

Is there are drawback to either system?

Both systems work but both have their drawbacks. The tiered trays can be heavy to lift and often worms find themselves trapped in the bottom reservoir, unable to save themselves. The tiered trays systems can be limited on size whereas the flow through systems are often bigger in volume and are claimed to house more worms. This can be a down fall as the volume of material stacked up can be prone to heating. Surface area is what worms like and sometimes flow through systems can be lacking in surface area.

What do I need to know about rotating trays?

There will come a point where your worm farm has too many worm castings and not enough space for more food. It is best practice to rotate the top two trays so the food can be spread evenly through the worms working loads. If the bottom tray is to be used in the rotation, it is best to have a cardboard floor to stop the worms from heading down into the reservoir. Once the top tray is covered with a thin layer of food scraps, place the top tray aside, ready to bring the second tray to the top. This allows more worms to sit at a bigger table. Spreading the food over two or three trays increases the amount of area for worms to eat the food, allowing your farm to function better.